In-form Harrier Beattie sets a new personal best over 8oom

Young Morpeth Harrier Scott Beattie continued to show that he is clearly in the form of his life, when he produced yet another lifetime personal best over 800m last week

Beattie finished third in a very competitive fastest race of the night, at the fifth and final BMC Regional Standards meeting, held at Chester-le- Street’s Riverside Track, on Monday.

Mike Bateman coached Beattie knocked another two seconds off his previous best, which had been achieved at the same venue in May, by clocking an excellent 1m53.5s, which now sees him ranked as 36th in the UK as an U20, and second in the North East, behind Crook’s Markhim Lonsdale.

Beattie was one of seven personal bests achieved by athletes on the night from Morpeth Harriers.

Joe Armstrong finished seventh in the same race, posting a finishing time of 1m54.2s, which places him 47th in the UK at U20, and fourth regionally.

In the second fastest 800m race of the night, Adam Gibbs, of Morpeth, produced a seasons best of 1m56.7s, when finishing second, and club colleague Kieran Hedley made further progress in his excellent season by producing a superb new personal best of 1m57.3s, when finishing fourth, making him 27th in the UK at Under 17 level, and third regionally.

Hedley had taken a whole second off his previous figures.

The third fastest 800m of the night brought new personal bests for Morpeth Senior Men Jordan Scott and Robert Balmbra.

Scott clocked 2m02.8s, finishing one place ahead of Balmbra, who clocked 2m06.3s.

Back to the younger achievers and the fourth fastest 800m of the night saw a Morpeth winner in the form of Joe Dowd, who also achieved a new lifetime best of 2m01.9s, which was a good four seconds inside his previous best, which sees him ranked seventh regionally in the National rankings.

Also having a strong race behind Dowd was club colleague Matthew Waterfield, who finished third in 2m06.3s.

Another Morpeth Harrier in this event was Karl Taylor, who finished eighth in a seasons best 2m11.9s.

It was also an excellent night for the younger of the two Hedley’s, when Kieran’s sister Rhiannon clocked a new personal best of 2m25.8s, when finishing third behind fellow Under 13 Girl Anna Mason, the Cumbrian Champion of Border Harriers.

For the younger Hedley it saw her knock nearly three seconds off her previous figures, and it sees her ranked at 29th in the UK, and also second regionally for her age group.